text: Rust removal from small iron or steel objects by electrolysis can be done in a home workshop using simple materials such as a plastic bucket filled with an electrolyte consisting of washing soda dissolved in tap water, a length of rebar suspended vertically in the solution to act as an anode, another laid across the top of the bucket to act as a support for suspending the object, baling wire to suspend the object in the solution from the horizontal rebar, and a battery charger as a power source in which the positive terminal is clamped to the anode and the negative terminal is clamped to the object to be treated which becomes the cathode. Hydrogen and oxygen gases are produced at the cathode and annode respectively. This mixture is flammable/explosive. Care should also be taken to avoid hydrogen embrittlement. Overvoltage also produces small amounts of ozone, which is highly toxic, so a low voltage phone charger is a far safer source of DC current.  Hydrogens effects on global warming have also recently come under scrutiny. 
  Rust may be treated with commercial products known as rust converter which contain tannic acid or phosphoric acid which combines with rust; removed with organic acids like citric acid and vinegar or the stronger hydrochloric acid; or removed with chelating agents as in some commercial formulations or even a solution of molasses.